Jones Trailer Theft Case Headed To Trial

Justin Michael Lewis has been bound over for trial in the concealment of candidate Gary Jones' campaign trailer last year. Lewis was arrested after Tecumseh police found the trailer on his property near Macomb. Lewis is free on bond and faces arraignment on a charge of concealing stolen property on August 29th. The trailer was stolen from a street in Tecumseh, home town of Jones' opponent for auditor and inspector, Jeff McMahan.

A source at the City of Tecumseh said that Lewis worked for the city at the time of the theft with Jason McMahan, State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan’s younger brother. The younger McMahan reportedly was dismissed from the city for allegedly threatening another employee shortly after the trailer was discovered. City officials have been mum on Jason McMahan's employment status, but city employees have talked openly about his dismissal and the alleged reason for it. Those allegations apparently will be aired during the trial since Lewis has not been charged with the actual theft of the trailer. The auditor and inspector has denied any involvement in the theft.

Special District Judge David Cawthon found sufficient evidence to hear the case after a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Among the witnesses were Tecumseh Police Detective J.R. Kidney and Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Patten.

Kidney testified that he and another deputy found the trailer on property belonging to Lewis on Nov. 2, six weeks after it disappeared in Tecumseh. Jones planned to use the trailer, which was decorated to look like a covered wagon, in the Frontier Days parade Sept. 16. The trailer, borrowed from a supporter, was brought to Tecumseh the night before and parked at Branson-McKiddy Real Estate on North Broadway, with a cable and lock through the wheels. It was missing the next morning.

Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Robert Mitchell, Kidney said Lewis wouldn’t say who brought the trailer to his property but commented that Kidney was “smart and could figure it out.” Allan Grubb, representing Lewis, questioned Kidney’s right to go on the property without a search warrant, but Kidney said it was legal since the land wasn’t in use and there were “exigent circumstances.”

Patten testified that he took over the investigation after Kidney turned the case over to the district attorney. He said when he questioned Lewis, he was aware the trailer was on his property and acknowledged it was “probably” stolen. Patten said Lewis told him he “wasn’t saying anything else and would take whatever happens to me.”

After Mitchell completed his questioning, Grubb moved to dismiss the charges on the basis of an illegal search. Cawthon denied the motion, saying the search fell under with the “open fields doctrine” where there is no expectation of privacy. “Even if it were an illegal intrusion,” Cawthon said, “subsequent statements were made voluntarily by someone who was not under arrest.”

Lewis, who is supervisor of Tecumseh’s wastewater treatment plant, will be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 29.

Some details courtesy The Tecumseh Countywide News

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